IN Carmel

 What happened today?   I took Eric to Nora to catch the bus to work. Wordle happened in three.  Crossword was a little easier today.  Easier than yesterday.  So the morning got it's start as it usually does.  Routine!  I spent the morning deadheading.  One thing that really hurts but I know it's for the best is snipping off that first bud of the zinnia plant.  I always look forward to seeing what color each plant is.  Snipping just makes me wait longer.  But...snipping also makes the plant bushier with more flowers.  So this year I snipped more zinnias.  Some are still small for the trim job but it won't be long before it happens.                                                                       ...

 Great morning with a little extra sleep.  Awake by seven.  That's late for me.  Wordle and Crossword went well although into the crossword for a few minutes gave me a headache thinking I won't get this one.  Well, persistence paid off and success came again. Breakfast under the umbrella on the patio.  A sweet place to see a whole lot of yard happenings.                                      Doing better this year.  Last year the bugs got them.  It wasn't pretty.                                                              I'm watching them closer this year.  They deserved a better life.  I'm trying harder. Later in the morning, I delivered the...

 Now I need to think...what happened this morning.  There is so much going on each day that is different although I must admit...Crossword and Wordle, that's not different.  They happened.    This morning I decided that it was time for the lettuce to go.  It still was pretty sweet but it was getting hard to clean.  Or I should say it took longer to clean out the uck stuff.  So it now is in the garbage can. There will be another fall lettuce planting. Also while I was digging up, on the stove a kettle was boiling full of red beets.  They were about the right size to eat and I was thinking Harvard Beets.  Yum, yum.                                           Once again part of the garden with the red smoke tree in bloom.                       ...

 It was a very good day.  Remember the song that starts that way?  Was it a P Como song? Sinatra? It's singing in my head.  Today was a very. very, very good day. Who could beat Wordle in two?  Only Jared and I got the two for the day.  Jared said even a blind squirrel finds a nut by accident sometimes. So are we squirrels.  Don't think so. Crossword came through on the easy scale.                                      Another beautiful calendula.  Sometimes they are called pot marigolds.                                                                                       ...

 Well...the word is to take it easy.  Another day of easy.                                 The Queen of the Prairie is starting to bloom.  Such a pretty girlie pink.                                                                                      The prairie must have been gorgeous when in bloom.  This morning I watched the caterpillar.  That was easy since there was no movement at all by the caterpillar. I was thinking perhaps some Pepto was needed since there was no eating or pooping. That changed dramatically when the afternoon sun warmed up the butterfly cage.  Dinner time will continue uninterrupted....

 Today couldn't get any quieter.  It could be called an old folks Sunday or something close.  Wordle happened in three.  Woo...I was good.   These are hollyhocks in the medium on 86th Street in Nora.  I stopped the car to snap the picture out the window.  Lucky for me the background is a huge truck that was passing on the other side of the road.  Makes a wonderful backdrop for the flowers.  I'm beginning to think I'm a hollyhock freak.  I remember sitting on the back steps around 5 years old maybe, making lady dolls out of hollyhock blooms. They had such pretty Hollyhock dresses.   Doug was feeling under the weather during the night so today it was church on the computer.  \It was a good sermon on idols that we make.  One is the gun with the impossibility of making any even slight degree of regulations. There were more examples.                     ...

 Not a whole lot on the dance card today.  Did a garden walk as usual.  Solved an easy crossword and finished wordle in six.  That was the last try before grade zero.  While in the garden I found another Monarch caterpillar so the cage needed to go back to supporting milkweed.  I looked several times for more caterpillars but so far the number is only one.  I'll keep looking since the Monarch butterfly was dipping and diving around the milkweed this morning.                                                                                        Marcia, Jacob, and Dennis                                ...

 Another good night of sleep.  Woo...I did a lot of that yesterday.  Today, not so much but there was some.  I think all the ducks are going in the right direction.  I had some questions about that up to about an hour ago.  The health report is that I've had more pain and more sleeping and more sitting then after the first surgery.  The nurse thinks that the pain might be unhappy nerves. That would be a good thing.   This morning I watched two butterflies from yesterday.  We released them around noon.  Then the last one "birth".  We left that one go late afternoon.  Doug was out with his camera and got some good pictures.  This little lady was the last of the bunch.  Now and then we see them flying.   I cleaned out the cage getting rid of the milkweed and all the flowers that were a bit stale and replaced wtgi some flowers and greenery that are related to Swallowtails.  I think they should be emerg...

 This is the day!  Up early as usual, remembering that it's a no breakfast, no coffee, no liquids morning.  Let's get this over with.  I checked the garden, did the paper, and on to Wordle.  All successful.  In fact wordle was the best of my three other buddies.  Another two emerged within 1 minute of each other.  Notice how fat the thorax is.  I think full of fluid that is used to pump up the butterfly.  This morning's pumping time took for ever. In fact into the afternoon.  The temperatures were in the low 70's.  They like 80 degree weather.  Tonight they still are in the cage with another try tomorrow.   I did a whole lot of deadheading and finished watering.  Everything looks fine with one exception.  One of the Baby Bear's Britches I would say seems to wan t to check out.  I found one more but won't move it till fall.                  ...

 Big day today.  The paper was a bit late so time with crossword isn't finished yet.  Almost but not quite.  Wordle was good.  And the day began with sitting by the butterfly cage, waiting, and waiting.  Number four emerged late morning while we were gone  Woo, woo.   Our good friend Kathleen is house-sitting in Golden Hill in a fabulous house with what I say is an unbelievable garden.  Well, gardens of many kinds with a beautiful terrain of valleys and trees and a cute little creek. and more.  Kathleen invited us to take a tour and it certainly was a beautiful morning to do that.  Doug grew up just outside Golden Hill and spent many hours playing with friends in that neighborhood.  So I have pictures of the morning.   The morning was perfect for taking pictures and spending time with a friend.                             ...